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Asia's metrosexuals: Mirror, Mirror...
By Ling Liu (Time)
Updated: 2005-10-28 09:04
Why is the Asian male suddenly in bloom? Kam Louie, who teaches Asian Studies
at Australian National University, cites the region's bulging economic biceps.
"The East Asian economy is being felt throughout the world," Kam says, "so it
makes sense that Asian men have more confidence and have started looking after
themselves." Then there's the regional popularity of the U.S. television show
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, which ridicules slovenly, typical-guy behavior
while challenging couch potatoes to reinvent themselves as stylish gents. Others
say fashionable Asian men are simply late-flowering "metrosexuals," an urban
subtype first popularized by British journalist Mark Simpson, who in a 2002
story on Salon.com provided this definition of the breed: "The typical
metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach
of a metropolis—because that's where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and
hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is
utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object
..."
Simpson concluded that no one exemplifies metrosexuality better than David
Beckham, the British soccer superstar known for his kaleidoscopic hairstyles,
Versace suits, sarongs, sequined tracksuits and use of nail polish. Beckham is
wildly popular in Asia. He's favored particularly by Japanese women, so it's no
coincidence that he was hired in 2002 as a spokesman (along with his wife,
former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham) for Tokyo Beauty Center, a Japanese chain
that operates 34 men's salons. Their not-so-subtle marketing message: guys, if
you want to score with the ladies, gender-bend it like Beckham.
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